April 2011

Glitch Number One

April 17, 2011

Not with the car… with our Blink We have charged our car exactly twice with our Blink Residential Level 2 Wall Mount charger. (Their term – not ours. The charger is actually built into the car. The Blink electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) provides the juice from the wall to the car.) When we tried […]

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Nissan LEAF Roadside Assistance

April 16, 2011

What are the details?  EDIT: If you own a Nissan LEAF and are looking for roadside assistance in the United States, please call 1-877-NO GAS EV (1-877-664-2738). First of all, the LEAF Roadside Assistance Benefits are nowhere to be found in the Roadside Assistance Guide, provided with your new LEAF. Silly us, for thinking to […]

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The Nissan LEAF is not perfect!

April 14, 2011

Restart problems surface with some owners By now, it is likely that you have heard of the LEAF’s restart problems. You are driving along, (or you are sitting somewhere with your LEAF powered up) and the red master warning light comes on. The EV system warning light is also illuminated (as indicated above). Oh no! […]

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The evolution of the automobile

April 12, 2011

Electronics may become most significant component For over 100 years now, the internal combustion engine (ICE) has been the most important single component of an automobile. Power, economy of operation, maintenance – all of these have hinged on the engine under the hood. While it is true that fuel economy has not improved dramatically since […]

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A changing automobile landscape

April 10, 2011

Auto manufacturers looking for a new breed of engineers While 2007 seems to have been the high-water mark for global vehicle production, with over 73 million vehicles produced, almost 61 million for 2009 (the last complete year for compiled information) is not a bad number. China is the number one producer of cars and trucks, […]

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Where is my Nissan LEAF?

April 8, 2011

Let’s think about this for a minute, shall we? On March 11, 2011, not yet one full month ago, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history impacted the country of Japan. If that were not bad enough, the earthquake was centered about 80 miles off of the east coast of Japan, generating a monstrous […]

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If you have to ask how far you can go…

April 6, 2011

Perhaps an electric vehicle (EV) is not for you just yet Prior to us getting our LEAF, we had visions of really putting it to the test. Driving it up mountains. Taking it to the edge of its limits. Wringing out the maximum possible mileage that we could get out of it. But then the […]

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Innovation for All

April 5, 2011

Not just an ad campaign Not long ago, we remember reading or hearing something along the lines of “If you have to tell someone that you’re innovative, then you’re not”. The supposition being that if you truly are innovative, others will recognize that within you. Naturally, the first thing that I thought of was the […]

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Functioning Level 2 and submitted California EV Rebate paperwork

April 5, 2011

SDG&E installed second meter today As we were out of town all last week, we didn’t have time to get all of our paperwork together to submit to the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) for our EV rebate. So we got it all together over the weekend and drove it to the office first thing […]

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Nissan LEAF review by a non-car person

April 3, 2011

So what do “regular” non-ev people think of the LEAF? I asked my wife Many who buy or lease the new LEAF do so for all that it offers. They have studied the car, understood it in ways that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle drivers may not. So what happens when you put the LEAF in […]

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